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A Deep Time Overview of the Sabbats
Celebrating Deep Time all year long Deep Time is so huge! We can't celebrate everything at once - yet if we put off celebrating an aspect of it, will we forget about it and never celebrate it? The solution is to distribute the ideas of Deep Time across the year - none are forgotten, yet each gets our full attention at some time. Here is a way to map the Deep Time of our universe onto the Wheel of the Year. Of course, feel free to adapt and change this as needed. Yule (The Winter Solstice ≈ December 21) celebrates beginnings, births, and the very start of light hidden in darkness. This includes the Big Bang – even a supernova looks like a firecracker compared to the Big Bang. Also, the great-grandmother supernova (Tiamat) and the later nuclear ignition of the sun. Time = from 14 billion up to 4 billion years ago Imbolc – (the Winter Thermstice, February 2) celebrates the bacteria stage of hidden life on earth. Life cannot be seen, but is there, growing and preparing to burst forth. During this time important things happen, though they are not visible. For life on earth, the essential metabolic chemical pathways we use every second evolved when we were nothing more than twinkle in a bacteria's eye. Time = from 4 billion up to 1 billion years ago Ostara – (the Spring Equinox, ≈ March 20) celebrates the evolution of multicellular life. Life becomes visible, like the life springing forth in the spring. Time = from 1 billion up to 600 million years ago Beltane – (the Spring Equitherm, May 1) celebrates the vibrant life bursting forth everywhere. This time saw the first land plants, an explosion of sexual reproduction and forms, the Cambrian explosion, the first land animals (invertebrates), etc. Time = from 600 million to 400 million years ago Litha – (the Summer Solstice, ≈ June 21) celebrates the full expression of life on earth, with most major life forms appearing. The first land vertebrates were seen at this time - basking in the hot sun. This time also gave us the first reptiles, the first mammals, the first creation of body heat, & the first dinosaurs. I think of dimetrodon, with a huge sail to celebrate the full sun of Litha. Time = from 400 million to 200 million years ago Lammas – (the Summer Thermstice, August 1) celebrates dinosaurs! The extreme of summer heat (thermstice) fits with the extreme size, power and might of the dinosaurs. It also fits with the idea that this too, must pass, as the early harvest and waning daylight foreshadow the waning year. Time = from 200 million to 100 million years ago Mabon – (the Fall Equinox, ≈ September 22) celebrates the harvest, so the plants which produce the harvest (angiosperms) are celebrated here. The first angiosperms appeared at this time, bringing fruit to the hungry mouths of our ancestors. Time = from 100 million to 66 million years ago Samhain – (the Fall Equitherm, October 31) celebrates extinction and death. http://www.thegreatstory.org/death-programs.html Celebrates? Yes. Extinction is a fundamental part of evolution, with death being part of the cycle of life. And death? Yes - the finiteness of our own lives means that every moment is a priceless treasure. Asteroid impacts and megafaunal extinctions are tied with the death that awaits each of us. This includes the mass extinction 65 million years ago, as well as the present ongoing mass extinction. Time = from 65 million years ago to the present